Tag archive for: Greg Gottfried

I want to start off by apologizing for the abrupt end to season 1 of the HammerShed Podcast. As it sometimes does life hit me with an incredible whirlwind of chaos. Family time, coaching responsibilities, the holidays, and work left me with no time for the show. The last several weeks away from the show did give me some time to recharge and revamp.

Moving forward the HammerShed podcast will focus on our largest audience, powerlifters. Although not exclusively a show for powerlifters The HammerShed Podcast will spend the majority of our time discussing strength sports. Season 2 will be a 8-15 episodes in round table format. Please stay tuned for more details.

On this episode Bret from Constant Forward Progress and I do some catching up on our training and talk about our new Facebook Group, HomeGrown Strength.

We start the show talking about how I was able to squat everyday for a year and what my thoughts on the experience were. I tell Bret that I think this is a practice (Squatting Every Day) that is absolutely doable but does not suite my current goals. I’m focused on powerlifting goals and need to spend more time deadlifting and doing other leg accessory work. Squatting everyday takes aways from my ability to do that.

Bret says his training has focused more on better pull ups so that he can progress to a muscle up. He also shares some exercises he does to increase shoulder mobility. Bret says back bridge variations are a great exercise for increasing mobility.

I then share the details for our new Facebook group, HomeGrown Strength. HomeGrown Strength is about pursuing strength at home, in your garage, backyard, or neighborhood park. You don’t need a 10,000 SQFT globo gym to be strong. HomeGrown Strength is here to support your strength and fitness goals, we are here to share what we have learned from building our own home gym, and most importantly we are here to make you STRONG.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed

Today Jeron Kerridge welcomes me back to Savage Strength and Conditioning to record an episode. We talk about training with some of powerliftings best and managing training intensity.

Jeron first shares with us his trip to Boss of Bosses 3, and the Richard Hawthorn seminar that he hosted at Savage Strength and Conditioning.

The days topic was was intensity. Was talked not only about intensity as a measure of how hard we are working in the gym but also intensity as it pertains to arousal level.

I asked Jeron how he approaches intensity both in his programing and in his training environment. Jeron says he thinks getting super psyched up for lifts, yelling, screaming, and all the other things that is stereotypical of some powerlifters can work, but not for everyone, and is very dependent on an individual’s personality.

I also make sure to point out that during our conversation we were talking about two different types of intensity. Arousal level and training difficulty relative to maximum effort. Jeron says he likes to stay in the 70-85% range for most of his work. We agree if you go too light you don’t get the strength adaptation response. On the other hand if you too heavy technique can break down. We do agree that it is important to get some reps over 85% because there are some things to be learn about weaknesses and, it allows our body to get use to handling heavy weight. Finding the balance of proper training intensity for individual athletes is where having a coach can be helpful. Having a coach with an unbiased eye is extremely useful too, even for more experienced athletes. If you are looking for assistance with identifying weaknesses or technique assessment, I invite you to apply to be a part of the HammerShed Team.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed

On this episode I speak with pilates expert Tracey Katona. She shares with use the history of pilates, her background as a professional ballerina, and how some of the best athletes in the world like Lebron James and Antonio Brown use pilates to make them better athletes.

Tracey started ballet at the age of 5. She knew that she wanted to be a professional ballerina so she told her mother that she needed lessons at a performing arts school. After a 12 year career as a professional ballerina, Tracey retired and began her career as a pilates instructor at the Nike world headquarters.

I asked Tracey if she ever had negative pressures during her ballet days to look a certain way or to make unhealthy choices. She said she saw some of it, but also some of that has to do with people who just don’t have the genetic makeup to make a career out of it. She said she loves basketball but no matter how much she wants to be in the NBA she just won’t because she doesn’t have the physical assets that make it possible. Tracey doesn’t deny there are pressures to look a certain way but she feels that is present in many sports. Tracey feels that people with bad eating disorders probably would have had them if they didn’t do ballet and those with a serious eating disorder wouldn’t be able to keep up with the physical demands of the sport either. Tracey says that the ballet industry is much more educated now on the subject of fitness and nutrition and they do a much better job of keeping such issues in check than they have in the past.

I asked Tracey to give us a background of where pilates came from. She tells us Joseph Pilates born in 1883 created his methods to help himself be more fit. He also used his methods to help prisoners of WWI develop their fitness. After the war he came to New York and opened up a studio. He made friends with higher ups of the New York City Ballet and dancers would come to him for rehab.

Pilates is intended to teach you how to acquire complete control of your own body through proper repetitions of the pilates exercises. You progressively acquire natural rhythm and coordination. Pilates supplements your sport by enhancing movement, power and endurance.

As Tracey describes how a typical session with her is set up I note that the similarities of other philosophies. The focus on the feet, addressing asymmetries, importance of the core, and breathing. Tracey focuses on good human movements and teaches her students to be more efficient movers. This work translates into everyday life and most certainly will help improve performance in any sport her students compete in.

On this episode I speak with Brandon Senn, Head Coach of Virtual Coaching at Kabuki Strength. He and I discuss the use of autoregulation in strength training. We explain its benefits, different types, and how to incorporate it into your programing.

Brandon says he wasn’t always a huge fan of the weight room as he found more pleasure in playing sports in high school than preparing for them in the weight room. He notes that he has always had a love for sport and competition. To fill that void after high school he found powerlifting.

Brandon says his coaching started at a commercial gym but found his coaching philosophy and their business model just wasn’t the right fit. He met Chris Duffin at a powerlifting meet hosted at Elite Performance Center. He felt that working there (Elite Performance Center) was a better fit for him and his clients. Currently the athletes he coaches are powerlifters, strongmen, and a couple crossfit athletes. Most of his coaching is done online but does some coaching at the Kabuki Strength Lab too.

I then asked Brandon to explain the origins of Kabuki Movement Systems (KMS). He says that, KMS filled a need for a movement based system for strength sports. There are always a time and a place for mobility work, rolling, etc… KMS though, addresses common movement issues with athletes, not only to reduce injuries but also to increase performance/strength. It’s a system that helps athletes be more efficient movers, which increase force production.

The main topic of the day is auto regulation. For those of you who are not familiar with what that is, auto regulation as a concept, is the ability to manage training load based on a series of defined metrics. In general there are two different types of metrics. Subjective metrics which include rated perceived exertion (RPE), reps in reserve (RIR), or other questions based around describing how difficult a movement felt. Objective metrics are the other type, these include measured bar speed, heart rate, and reps to failure (AMRAP). The benefit with objective metrics when utilizing autoregulation is it keeps you honest and it’s harder to fake. We talk about how there are times when we FEEL good or FEEL bad but the objective metrics show otherwise. In those cases an athlete might make adjustments based on a feeling that would not optimize their training. Brandon does say that there are a time and a place for both methods, and cites work from people like Michael Tuchscherer who uses both methods in tandem.

Brandon talks about how Dr. Brian Mann in working with some of his athletes has found that when they measured athletes bar velocities at certain prescribed percentages they were actually working in ranges undesired for what the programming called for. Cases like this show that not everyone is the same and having some hard data to show us what is really happening can be beneficial.

I then asked Brandon to describe the different types of velocity devices. There are two main types, wearable devices and tethered devices. Brandon tells us that there are also some optical devices but tend to be too inaccurate or cost prohibitive. Brandon thinks that the future will be in wearable tech but right now tethered devices are far more accurate. Currently Brandon’s favorite device is the Squats and Science Open Barbell v2.

I asked Brandon to explain typical usage of a velocity device for auto regulation. He says that any program that uses percentages for training load can use velocity monitoring to make it even better. He uses a technique called velocity profiling. It defines what velocity you should be at for any particular percentage of your one rep max. Not everyone is the same and we all travel at different speeds for different loads. The profiling helps clear up the guesswork so you can select weight to match the prescribed percentage for your training.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed

On this episode I am happy to welcome back Dr.Tyna Moore. She and I talk about strength training, its benefits to our health, and how important it is for our sanity. Dr. Moore started the show by telling us that she was able to hit her 200lb deadlift goal she talked about last time she was on the show. Tyna explains that it happened on a day that she stopped focusing on numbers. She has recently hired a coach that has been a huge help in systematically addressing weaknesses and helping her get stronger. An issue she was having with her squats was a hip impingement, and she has found that squatting wider and toed out has helped with the impingement problems. It also is more adductor and glute focused and she appreciates that.

The last time Dr.Moore was on the show we talked about managing pain, so I gave an her an update on how I have been managing pain for me and my family. We have started using magnesium gel for sore muscles and voodoo floss bands. For people interested in learning more about voodoo floss be sure to check out Kelly Starrett and Donnie Thompson’s YouTube channels.

The topic of the show is strength training and why we ALL need to do it. Specifically we talk about the conversations we have with people who have not been in the gym for awhile or those who are fit but don’t lift weights. I asked Dr. Moore to explain to us, from a doctors perspective, what are the benefits of strength training. Two main benefits she talks about is for pain relief and hormonal balance. She warns that a great way to screw up your hormonal balance is through chronic cardio. It can be inflammatory and fatigue your adrenal glands. Dr.Moore also notes that highly trained lean muscle mass can produce hormones such as testosterone and estrogen, which is a huge win for aging athletes. When performing heavy compound movements our bodies are put in a stressful situation which causes us to not only produce more hormones such as HGH and testosterone but as a whole is forced to become more robust and stronger. The detoxification benefits that we get from strength training are huge.

I asked Dr. Moore what her strength training journey has been like. She shares that it was comment from her daughter that motivated her to get in the gym and build up her glutes. Once she had been at it for some time she began to start seeing all the benefits we have been talking about. She saw that this was a major component that was missing from her life and from her patients lives. She tells us it’s a great way for her to prepare for life. No matter what it throws at her, being stronger and having more muscle mass is always an advantage. The mental benefits we get from strength training is so important too. It builds confidence, it helps with depression, and alleviates stress.

We then moved on to talking about recovery. Although the gym is great and lifting heavy weights makes us feel good, equally important is rest and recovery. Our exercise stimulates our body to grow when we give it rest. Eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and reducing our alcohol consumption are all things we can to to help our body recover and grow. Dr. Moore notes that if we pay attention we can see how our lifestyle choices impact our training.

On this episode Bret and I talk to Dragon Door Founder John DuCane. We talk about his background in Thia Chi, how Dragon Door originated, and what is to come from many of Dragon Door authors.

John is a Thia Chi and kettlebell expert, but originally was a Track and Field athlete. He grew up in South Africa and was always playing, running, and jumping outside. When he attended high school in England, John ran track and played rugby. John credits his health to a variety of different exercise, movement, and a lifelong practice of rigorous exercise. At age 18 John found the book Light on Yoga, which introduced him to bodyweight exercise.

John goes on to talk about how Dragon Door started the modern kettlebell revolution. When he met a young Russian man by the name of Pavel Tsatsouline they started training together and came out with a couple books. One of which was Power to the People. They also were the first US company to offer kettlebells, which were different from Russian kettlebells because the were solid. Not hollowed out like traditional kettlebells. Dragon Door was also first to come out with videos, books, and certification in kettlebells.

Another huge breakthrough for Dragon Door came when Paul “Coach ” Wade submitted a copy of Convict Conditioning to John. This turned into the release of a best selling book which sold over 100,000 copies in the US and the development into the Progressive Calisthenics Certification with Al and Danny Kavadlo as lead instructors.

There are several great title coming out from dragon door including, CrossCore® Hardcore by Marty Gallagher, and new material from Wim Hoff.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed

On this episode I speak with sports nutritionist and World’s Strongest Woman competitor Jennie Cwikla. Jennie is also the owner of Valkyrie Athletics, a company that specializes in working with elite level athletes. She and I discuss eating for performance, realistic expectations, and common nutrition misconceptions.

Jennie talks about the struggles we all have with balancing life and fitness. She talks about how many public school systems have failed to prepare students for and living a healthy lifestyle.

While in college studying exercise science, Jennie found herself in a position where she was not the person she knew she should be. She was over 200 lbs. and not eating the way she knew she should. Jennie said that was her rock bottom and was determined to make a change for the better.

In 2008 Jennie started running boot camp classes and competing in figure competitions. Jennie even got involved with extreme weight loss studies for infomercials like Nordictrack and other fitness equipment.

In 2010 Jennie competed in her first sanctioned World’s Strongest Woman competition, which she ended up winning. That was the springboard into her career. She went on to win Arizona’s Strongest Woman, and tied for 5th in The World’s Strongest Woman competition.

Jennie is the owner of Valkyrie Athletics, a company that specializes in helping elite level athletes with programing and nutrition.

On today’s episode I speak with Adam Field the co-founder of APEMAN Strong Apparel. Adam shares his story of how he and his brother started a powerlifting company focused on their passion for the sport, inspiring others through powerlifting, and training hard. Adam talks about their approach to design, sponsorship, and he shares the story of APEMAN athlete KC Mitchell. Whether you are a powerlifter or not I am sure you will find this show truly inspiring.

Adam and his brother run APEMAN strong together out of a warehouse in Phoenix Arizona. Adam came from a background in finance and commercial real estate and his brother ran a screen printing business making shirts for local companies.

I started the interview asking Adam what advice he would give people getting started in business or their sport. He says the most important thing is to do something you have a passion for. Chasing money doesn’t always make you happy. Even having money may not bring happiness. He has found the most satisfying part of his job is being a part of something he loves. He loves to write, lifting weights, and pursuing strength. APEMAN Strong doesn’t think about chasing money, they chase their passion, STRENGTH. When you are doing something you are truly passionate about the money will find you. It’s more important to them to find ways to help people with their business than to make a quick buck.

Adam shares that his fascination with strength goes back to when he was a kid and watched The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferrigno. He always wanted to have big muscles, like the Hulk and characters from the Rocky movies like Sylvester Stallone, Apollo Creed, etc… Also very involved in sports through high school Adam says he has always loved lifting weights. When the real estate market crashed in 2008 Adam explains that he was over stressed, his business partners left, and he had to go through the pains of closing offices, laying people off, and it proved to be too much. On the verge of a breakdown himself he said going on late night runs helped reduce the stress. Unfortunately during a 62 mile race Adam went into kidney failure and put it him in the ICU. Not being able to run and needing some more income Adam’s brother invited him to help print tee shirts and workout in the warehouse gym. That is when Adam fell back in love with weight lifting. He became addicted to letting his angst, aggression, and frustrations of life on the barbell. Lifting became a much needed release.

Adam and his brother then began to talk about the idea of starting a brand around lifting weights. It just made sense to them. They loved lifting weights, they were already printing shirts for other people, why not start something that they had a passion for. The original concept was for a lifestyle brand based on the idea that we need to promote strength, taking care of business, and powerlifting.

People outside of lifting sometimes can misconstrue the meaning. What it is about is, taking circumstances that have caused pain, hurt, or rage in your life and unleashing it on the weights in a positive way. Not being a jerk in the gym.

One of the athletes APEMAN sponsors is KC Mitchell. His story is a very inspiring one. KC lost a leg while serving our country. Feeling down and out, he turned to power lifting and completely turned his life around and got off all the pain pills he heavily relied on.

Adam and I talk about how training with people who are better than you makes you better. It is inspiring and can show you that the limits you put on yourself are artificial, you can always do more.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed

On today’s episode Bret invites us back to constant forward progress. I start the episode by talking about a great workout I had that morning. Not everyday in the gym is perfect and we don’t always feel our best, so when we do it’s important to take advantage of it! I have been doing a Westside Method style program lately. This type of programing incorporates a lot of banded exercises and on this particular workout my banded squats felt REALLY easy. I ended up triple checking the weight and doing and extra couple sets with straight weight just to verify I was doing the right amount. For more information on the Westside Method be sure to go back and listen to my interview with AJ Roberts.

Working with Bret and interviewing some of the industries greatest calisthenics experts has inspired me to spend more time learning new skills on my rest days. Not only does this help with my body awareness and strength is also helps improve my mobility and aids in recovery. Bret shares how making minor adjustments such as hand placement, can make a huge difference in difficulty when doing calisthenics. Bret also advises that strength sport athletes do more single leg or single arm accessory work to help prevent or fix asymmetries.

We briefly highlight some of the great performances in track and field during the Olympics. Michael Johnson’s 400M world record was broken and Ryan Crouser an Oregon Native broke the Men’s Olympic Shot put record.

Bret and I then move on to the topic for the show which is the compounding effect of consistency. There are some many times when we want to skip our training. Either we don’t feel good, we are not motivated, or we feel like there are better things to do. This is where so many people go wrong. You will not get anywhere being a fair weather athlete. It’s the days we don’t feel at our best yet still manage to push through and complete our training that help us reach our goals. Not missing workouts for a head start on the weekend makes the your next PR come even sooner.

One important lesson I learned from Squatting everyday is there are days, where I don’t feel good, even after a extended warm-up. On those days I have to fight every urge not to call it quites. Even though I didn’t feel strong and doubt what would come from the workout I have been able to surprise myself and set PR’s. You never know what you are capable of until you test yourself.

Please share our show with your friends and family, continue to send me your emails, and remember Consistency is KING!

HammerShed Podcast, a show for anyone who is looking for great information on fitness, coaching, and nutrition. I speak with professional athletes, Olympians, world class coaches, and leaders in research and wellness.

I want to make the best podcasts possible and continue bringing you the best content from the smartest people in the industry. The HammerShed Podcast was made for you, no matter your age, skill level, or strength. You will find great information that will help you achieve your goals. To produce and create the best shows, I need your help.

If every listener donated $2/month, we’d have all of the creative freedom to deliver the kinds of shows we’ve always wanted to create, without any limits. Reaching this goal would create a better balance between listener support and sponsorship’s, and create a more sustainable model for The HammerShed Podcast. This means better shows, additional video content and, fewer sponsor breaks.

HammerShed wouldn’t be what it is today without your support, and we truly appreciate your donation, no matter the size. To become a HammerShed Podcast Patron go to: www.patreon.com/hammershed